Anonymous Patron writes “Not only are comics the hottest thing in teen and adult publishing, they’re getting a whole lot of love from librarians, who are scrambling to flesh out their graphic-novel collections and understand the market.
So it was inevitable that the comics craze would extend down to the original, but long-forgotten, part of the fan base: kids.
Children’s publishers suddenly are ramping up graphic-novel imprints for younger readers, secure in the knowledge that not only will kids love them, but librarians will take them seriously.
Papercutz
Scholastic isn’t alone in its thinking. Indie-comics publisher NBM recently kick-started its own graphic imprint for kids — Papercutz — with comic-book versions of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys mysteries. It’s adding a Zorro line as well. The books are 96 pages in a pocket-book size, with the big-eyed characters and exaggerated emotional expressions typical of manga.
I wasn’t all that impressed with their Hardy Boys book (it was a little over-the-top even for the H-boys) and another reader I know panned the Zorro book. I didn’t have a chance to read it but my neice loved the Nancy Drew book.
Are comics dumbing down kids? You couldn’t tell it by Little, who says he hears that criticism only from people who haven’t read comics lately. The days when “Archie and Jughead” defined the genre are long gone.
Pity.
For the best of the best get Gemstone’s Uncle Scrooge, if that’s too expensive go for the Donald Duck & Friends!